Whackadoodle Real Estate Stories - You Just Can't Make This 💩 UP!

Whackadoodle Real Estate Stories - You Just Can't Make This 💩 UP!

How on earth do we narrow the whackadoodle stories to only one this month?!! I’ve had so many crazy things that have happened since being in this business but, the best part of ‘crazy’ is all we learn from it!

I can’t say this is the craziest but, this is certainly one that my buyers will never let me forget! 

An agent in one of my first offices worked the business part time - she was a financial ‘guru’ who only got her real estate license for referrals. She was very well connected and had an ENDLESS database so, she preferred to work her regular, high-paying, salaried job and refer anyone and everyone who was buying or selling real estate. 

That’s it! That’s all she had to do - pass the referral along and let someone else do the work…and make a 25% referral fee for passing the name to another agent. However, on occasion, she did what she could to meet the client, in the event she decided to ditch her corporate job and practice real estate only. The way she handled that was to take the buyers on their first showing with whomever she was referring them to. It was the perfect hand-off.

This particular buyer was a ‘referral’ to her from another client of hers in the banking industry so, she did not know him at all. I was blessed to be the one that received a good number of her leads and this one, in particular, wound up being an amazing referral client - and still is, even though they are no longer living in my area.

She was unable to meet them the first time with me but, when she referred them to me, she knew that I was going to be on vacation during their second visit to Charlotte. So, she decided to meet them during that visit to Charlotte, arrange the showings and accompany them to their list of potential homes to purchase. 

Again, I was out of town ON VACATION so, imagine the horror when I received the call from the buyers, letting me know that I was FIRED! The call went something like this, “This is John & Jim. We just wanted to let you know that our move to Charlotte is very important to us and we are very disappointed in today’s service. We will no longer need your services.” Of course, the minute we returned to the beach house, I listened to my messages and was HORRIFIED! 

For some crazy reason, I didn’t call the agent who was showing first, I just hit ‘dial’ on the call that I missed to reach John. Thankfully, he was respectful enough to answer my call. I told him I was speechless and thought that we had such a great working relationship. I couldn’t IMAGINE what on earth happened to make them make that drastic decision.

The buyer proceeded to tell me that that the referral agent was 20 minutes late and that they had to phone her to find out when she would arrive (after being 5 minutes late). As it happens, she told them that she had forgotten about their meeting…but, she had remembered to schedule all 5 showings that day and 5 the next! They did see all of the homes on Day-1 but, fired us (VIA ME!) at the end of the day.


Not only was she 20 minutes late but, she had on tight jeans with her (thong) underwear showing! The comment from my client was, “Does she know that we are gay and we don’t care to see her underwear?!!” 

I apologized profusely and agreed to never have her work with them again, including the following day in order to maintain our relationship. I set them up with one of my favorite agents in town and helped her get all of the showings set for the following day. I was, and still am, very thankful that they decided to give me another chance. 

Of course, I had to have the difficult conversation with the referral agent that the buyers didn’t find her underwear appealing to them at all and that they did not want to work with either of us any longer. I was able to talk them into staying with me and, certainly, I would pay her the referral fee but, they would not need her assistance the next day or any day thereafter.

The funny part of the story was that the couple reminds me of “Thong Girl” EVERY time we chat! They have never forgiven me for paying her a referral fee but, do understand that I owed it to her. They have since, sent me numerous referrals - several of them from out of state. They are, thankfully, loyal and uber appreciative for wonderful transactions together. 

They maintain that the other agent did the right thing, ‘retiring’ her license, saying that she was ‘not a relationship agent.’ For me, she ALMOST lost me one of my top-10, all-time referral clients.  I will be forever grateful for my relationship with them and am thankful that we can now laugh together - about underwear!  

A HUGE thank you to Eileen Burns & Kathy Streib for hosting this month's challenge. What GREAT stories we've enjoyed reading this month. Love the idea and have thoroughly enjoyed reading the unbelievable tales! Who said our profession was boring?!!